In July of 1925, the Tennessee jury in the Scopes "monkey" trial delivered its verdict, finding high school science teacher John T. Scopes guilty of teaching evolution. In a larger sense, however, the jury is still out.

A nation set apart, divinely empowered to lead the world—that is how we have seen ourselves since the very beginning. The seventeenth century's "city upon a hill" became, in the eighteenth, a model of liberty for all the world.

Grade(s):Middle School, High School, Postsecondary

Subject(s):General Social Studies, U.S. History, State History, English Language Arts, Professional Development, Social Studies

America would not exist without rhetoric. John Quincy Adams observed that rhetoric is essential to democracy. The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution stand on firm rhetorical foundations, and rhetoric has shaped debate on issues from abolition in the nineteenth century to abortion in the twenty-first.

Grade(s):Elementary, Middle School, High School, Postsecondary

Subject(s):General Social Studies, U.S. History, State History, English Language Arts, Professional Development, Social Studies

Between 1947 and 1991 the Cold War touched virtually every aspect of life in the United States. At the height of the conflict in the 1950s and 60s, our anxieties magnified the Soviet Union into an enemy so militarily powerful and diabolically sly that it seemed destined to conquer us through invasion or subversion.

Grade(s):Middle School, High School, Postsecondary

Subject(s):General Social Studies, U.S. History, State History, English Language Arts, Professional Development, Social Studies

Grade(s):Middle School, High School, Postsecondary

Subject(s):General Social Studies, U.S. History, State History, English Language Arts, Professional Development, Social Studies

Live, interactive professional development seminars conducted by leading scholars to improve teacher content knowledge, promote discussion-based instruction, and provide fresh material for use with students.

Grade(s):Elementary, Middle School, High School

Subject(s):General Social Studies, U.S. History, State History, English Language Arts, Professional Development, Social Studies

Subject(s):General Social Studies, U.S. History, State History, English Language Arts, Professional Development, Social Studies

During the Civil War, Americans, North and South, were surrounded by death. Battle claimed over 600,000 lives. A similar casualty rate in today's America would result in about 6 million deaths. Just as we would struggle to make sense of such massive tragedy, our countrymen did 150 years ago.

Grade(s):Elementary, Middle School, High School, Postsecondary

Subject(s):General Social Studies, U.S. History, State History, English Language Arts, Professional Development, Social Studies

In the 1850s, as the nation inched toward civil war, opponents of slavery claimed Thomas Jefferson as an ally, citing his ringing proclamations of inalienable rights. At the same time, proponents of slavery said he was on their side, quoting his views on Negro inferiority and pointing to his failure to free his slaves.

Grade(s):Elementary, Middle School, High School, Postsecondary

Subject(s):General Social Studies, U.S. History, State History, English Language Arts, Professional Development, Social Studies